Blushes

Tarte Blissful Amazonian Clay Blus ($25.00 for 0.20 oz.) is described as a “warm peach,” but it’s more like an intense coral-pink on me! It’s more pink than coral, but it’s not truly pink. The brightness and strength of the pink will make it a wearable coral even on cooler complexions. The hue reminded me of Smashbox Blushing/Peony, which is a touch pinker and is a cream. It’s also similar to theBalm Frat Boy. Make Up For Ever #6 is a bit lighter, less pink.

Tarte says that these have a twelve-hour wear time, which I haven’t yet experienced, but some of the darker shades tend to do better than the lighter ones. For instance, Blissful wore for eight hours well, and though it was faded, I could still detect some on after ten hours. I like that the blush is really silky soft in texture, which makes it easy to blend, but it is also soft enough that a brush easily dislodges the powder so you can easily get too much product on your brush with some of the more intense shades like Blissful. I’d recommend a stippling brush or tapping off the excess if you prefer a light look.

The Glossover

Better wear than the previous two shades I've reviewed, but it doesn't quite meet the twelve-hour claim, so wear is still where this product falls short! The pigmentation is plentiful, and the texture is silky soft, though it almost gets powdery.

Where to Buy

Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.

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Illamasqua Rude Cream Blush

Illamasqua Cream Blusher Rude ($24.00 for 0.14 oz.) is described as a “warm peach pink” with a dewy finish. I didn’t detect any pink in the pan, and on my skin, it seemed more orange than anything else. When blended out, it looks more peach-orange (and not to worry, it doesn’t have to be as fierce applied as it appears in the pan). Perhaps on those with more obvious pink undertones, it will look less peach-orange and more peach-pink. If you apply Rude very subtly, it compares to Urban Decay Indecent but without the shimmer (and I’d say Urban Decay Bang is too dark and orange-y).

It definitely has a dewy finish, and it’s almost on the wrong side of dewy, even on my normal-to-dry skin; luckily, it skates that thin line and manages to be a glowy dewy rather than an oily dewy. You can also take down the dewiness by dusting translucent powder on top. This product is buildable and very, very blendable; the creamy, melt-on-your-cheeks consistency enables that, so it is impossible to overdo it, but if you like your blush darker, you’ll likely do better by building up the color in layers.

The texture, despite its creaminess, feels featherweight against the skin; it’s thin, comfortable to wear, and doesn’t feel greasy. It wears around seven hours on bare skin before it seems to reach its limit at eight hours (where it appears faded). Over foundation, it wears five to seven hours, depending on the quality of my underlying skin; if it’s drier, then it tends to cling to patches over time, so it’s manageable for five hours or so, but if my skin is more normal, then it lasts just over seven hours. What I really liked was that it looked and felt good over and under foundation, and many cream blushes have a tendency to work best on bare skin–and let me tell you, my skin is nowhere near good enough to be wearing full makeup and skipping foundation.

The Glossover

I can see why Illamasqua's Cream Blushes are popular; the wear is good (but it has some room for improvement), and the color is buildable and blendable, which are really two must-have characteristics of a cream blush.

Where to Buy

Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.

Disclosure: Temptalia uses affiliate links, which give us a small commission when you make a purchase (given to us by the retailer, at no cost to you). Your purchases help to support the site!

Tarina Tarantino Feather Dollskin Cheek Blush ($25.00 for 0.20 oz.) is described as “shimmering peach.” It’s a pink apricot with soft golden shimmer that becomes more of a sheen when it’s sheered out. It’s similar to a lot of coral blushes that exist; it’s a bit pinker, less orange compared to cult favorite NARS Orgasm and resembles Benefit CORALista more. It reminded me a bit of MAC Hipness, too.

The powder is very soft and finely-milled, so when you touch your brush to it, you can pick up quite a bit of color in a single go. This means it is a little powdery, though, so you may want to use a light hand when picking up color. Luckily, though the blush is fairly true-to-pan with good color payoff, it blends out easily because of the overall softness of the powder. It has more of a shimmer-sheen finish, so it doesn’t look frosty or disco ball-like on the cheeks. I had a good experience while wearing it, because it lasted eight hours without migrating or looking faded.

The Glossover

I love how well this wears, and I like that it's shimmery without being frosty--more like a glowy, luminous sheen. This is a coral that should work across skin tones, because it isn't orange, even though it is still warm-toned.

Where to Buy

Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.

Disclosure: Temptalia uses affiliate links, which give us a small commission when you make a purchase (given to us by the retailer, at no cost to you). Your purchases help to support the site!

Debuting in January, Benefit Hervana Boxed Powder ($28.00 for 0.28 oz.) is described as a “soft orchid-blossom flush.” It’s made of four individual shades in a pinwheel design, though as far as a blusher goes, you really couldn’t use these shades individually as each shade is fairly small. With a small blush brush, you might be able to use two or three shades in concentration, but I recommend swirling and sweeping all the shades taken together.

Lucky Shell is a soft, pale beige with a satiny shimmer. Divine Peach is a warm apricot-peach with soft golden shimmer. Heavenly Rose is a soft rosy peach with a satiny sheen. Berry Delight is a blue-based ppinky-plum with a satiny sheen. Together, they create a soft, warm pink with subtle peach undertones and a satiny shimmer-sheen. It’s not frosty or over-the-top, so the shimmer adds a distinct glow to the skin and doesn’t emphasize pores. The pigmentation here doesn’t impart loads of color–it’s a soft flush, which seems to be the theme of this particular powder. It has a really soft, smooth texture that sits well on the skin. It wore well for seven hours and looked a little faded around the edges after eight hours.

It’s not too warm for cooler complexions to wear it, and I actually think it’s one of those shades that will lean a little cooler/warmer depending on the underlying skintone. For instance, my natural yellowy undertones pull out the peachiness in the product, while someone with pinker undertones may find it turns pinker on them. When I applied it to my cheeks, it also appeared peachier because of the coral lip and olive green eyeshadows I paired it with.

Product

Pigmentation

Texture

Longevity

Application

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Where to Buy

This product can be purchased at the following retailers:

January 2012 at Benefit, $28

Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.

Disclosure: Temptalia uses affiliate links, which give us a small commission when you make a purchase (given to us by the retailer, at no cost to you). Your purchases help to support the site!

Tarte Blushing Bride Amazonian Clay Blush ($25.00 for 0.20 oz.) is described as a “plummy rose.” It’s a muted raspberry–it’s a bit pink as well as plum–with very faint shimmer. The shimmer looks more obvious in the pan, but it doesn’t translate much onto the skin–there’s a definite sheen once applied, but it’s not a heavy shimmer, so pores are not emphasized. It packs a punch if you aren’t careful! Blushing Bride is richly pigmented but can be applied softly and the soft texture allows for easy blending out if necessary. The hue reminded me of Bobbi Brown Plum, which is a touch pinker.

I had the same wear results with this shade as with Exposed, which was eight hours of good wear, but by the tenth hour, it had disappeared. I was hoping for a bit longer wear, because of the intensity of this color, but no dice! The texture was not as finely milled here, but it was still quite soft without being powdery. I recommend using a stippling blush to apply this color, because it is very intense, and if you use a regular blush brush, you might find the results are too much and require a fair amount of blending out. I also found a stippling brush disturbed the powder less, which meant less excess powder being kicked up.

The Glossover

It's a good blush, but it just doesn't wear the full 12 hours that Tarte claims, which is really where this product lost the most points from. It wears well (eight to ten hours on me), looks natural when applied, and has good pigmentation.

Where to Buy

Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.

Disclosure: Temptalia uses affiliate links, which give us a small commission when you make a purchase (given to us by the retailer, at no cost to you). Your purchases help to support the site!

MAC for Gareth Pugh: Strada Blush

MAC Strada Blush ($30.00 for 0.08 oz.) is described as a “mid-tone nude.” It’s a pink-beige on me but looks less pink once applied on the face. MAC Brit Wit is a bit pinker but similar, just in a cream form. It’s a good shade for contouring if you’re light to medium in skin tone, and it will also work as a cheek color on light to light-medium skin tones. On medium skin tones, you might find you’re really piling it on to get enough of an effect on the cheeks. It has a matte finish, which is yet another reason why it works well for contouring without looking muddy. It wore for about eight hours. The texture is soft enough to be blendable and buildable, but it doesn’t kick up powder or look dry on the skin.

The compact is black metal, and it’s quite heavy. It is a small compact, but it has more heft to it than you’d expect given the size. The top of the powder is also patterned, which is also something you wouldn’t get if you bought it normally. On the top of the palette, you’ll find the signature logo from the collection, and there is a mirror on the inside of the lid.

It’s part of the permanent range at PRO stores (I had originally thought it was discontinued), so you can only buy it pan form these days, but if you like the color of Strada, you can visit a MAC PRO store OR you can place a phone order–even with shipping, you’ll still spend less than the price tag of this product and you’ll get over double the amount of product. You should also be able to place an order via phone with online last I heard. It looks like there is a TON of confusion – some stores say this is discontinued, others told me it’s permanent. When MAC puts out their “couture” collection each year, the prices skyrocket, but this is the first time I’ve noticed how much they’ve skimped you on the product. Full-sized MAC powder blushes contain 0.21 oz. and retail for $19.50 a pop, while this variation of Strada is over $10 more and contains almost a mere one-third of a full-sized blush! It’s like they’re squeezing you on both ends.

The Glossover

Strada is certainly worth a look, but I'd recommend going for the regular PRO pan, because the significant reduction in quantity plus 30% increase in price for packaging is rather painful if you're just in love with the color itself and don't want the packaging.

Product

Pigmentation

Texture

Longevity

Application

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Where to Buy

This product can be purchased at the following retailers:

MAC Cosmetics on November 23rd, $30

Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.

Disclosure: Temptalia uses affiliate links, which give us a small commission when you make a purchase (given to us by the retailer, at no cost to you). Your purchases help to support the site!